My wife and I are celebrating our 20th anniversary this summer. We are looking at doing a Mediterranean cruise on one of the luxury cruise lines. We're looking at Regent, Seabourn, and Silversea.

Anyone done one of these? Recommend one over the others? Any other tips or things we should know?

Thanks!

We are doing a Med cruise Sept 2024 on Celebrity Ascent - it's a brand new ship. We book The Retreat which are suites with lots of luxury amenities. We are doing a nine night Italian & French Riviera itinerary. I haven't cruised on any of those lines but would be interested in hearing about your experience and comparing with Celebrity.

Regent, Seabourn, and Silversea are all good choices as long as you're on the right ship. I wouldn't go on a ship older than 10 years old on any of them. Silversea skews toward an older passenger but adults of any age would be welcome and they'd be the best overall experience of the three, IMO. I've been on Regent before and it wasn't as impressive as I thought it'd be. I liked the all-inclusive aspect but the ship (SS Mariner) was one of the older in their fleet and definitely showed it's age.

Celebrity Ascent is an excellent choice. I'm booked on it in December. I'm not a fan of the infinite verandah for warm weather cruises so I book the Sunset Verandah. Comparing it to Regent, I'd rather go with Celebrity and have more dining and entertainment options onboard. Overall, I think the total cost on Celebrity would be about the same as Regent's all-inclusive fare once you add in drinks, excursions, etc.

I agree I do not think you could go wrong on any of them. I currently have clients on Oceania and they love it. I've had clients do Seabourn and Regent in the past without complaints. I've only done one river cruise and it was on Avalon. It wasn't bad at all, but I know the others are more luxury than Avalon.

I would be happy to help if you are interested in using an agent, no worries at all if not. My services are completely free of charge.

Can only vouch for SilverSea. Did Alaska with them and can't pick a single item to complain about? I am pretty easy-going, wife is very particular and SHE was happy. Not cheap of course, but the size of the rooms, the service, quality of restaurants, beverage choices, laundry service...all included and top notch.

We were supposed to go to the Galapagos with them last month the day after the crap hit the fan in Ecuador. They were very communicative and available on the status of the trip as the situation developed. They ended up cancelling the trip and if you re-booked the same or a different trip within two years you got a credit of 110%. We were supposed to go to Greece with them a few years ago but Covid cancelled that and they gave us 120% credit for that. So they are very good about keeping you as a customer.

Have focused mostly with expedition Silver Seas cruise. Have enjoyed the all inclusive aspect including great wine and no tipping. Problem is they are increasing the ship size with more passengers. Have also done Seaborne which was great and once with Regent which I thought was really overpriced. Have done the Ponant Arctic expedition which was amazing despite the French overlap. We are booked to do a SS trip in August Darwin to Perth. Have to show my wife my old West Australian haunts.